Horus Academy (SYOC)
by LegacyReturns
Summary: Join Sienna and Jasper in the new year at Horus Academy where they will go on adventures with friends while trying to get their trainer licenses to achieve their dreams. Summary sucks but it's an SYOC, I know you want to read. SYOC still open. Rules and form on profile.
1. Prologue

**Horus Academy**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. I just own the characters I've created and the ones I've been given the right to use by readers.**

 **A/N: Hey! How's it going readers? My name is Rasa the North Wind, formerly Legacy918 and Katon Dragonfly and yes, here we go again with a Pokémon SYOC story that takes place at a school. I didn't finish Star Academy, a story that I put a lot of effort and time into so why would I finish this, a story with a prologue that doesn't even break 1K words? Well to be completely honest, there is no guarantee. I honestly just wanted to write a bit with the new Pokémon that were released in Sun and Moon. Plus I realized that I wanted SA to be the absolute perfect story so I put a lot of pressure on myself to make it perfect but this is a story that I'm just going to write and have fun with, just like I did with Star Academy's predecessor, Pokemon Academy. Now if you've never heard of me or read my work, welcome! I hope you enjoy my writing, submit a character, and leave some feedback in the review section!**

 **Prologue**

Belli City is a precious gem found in the center of the Celes Region known for its many seasonal festivals, historical museums, and western architecture. Unlike its neighbor to the east, Gigan City, which is rich with skyscrapers and highways, Belli City is comprised of buildings of all sizes and enjoys the company of the ocean that hugs its shores. As the cultural center of the Celes Region, this city hosts the largest contest hall in the region. It is at the front steps of this contest hall that this story begins.

A young girl stands with her hands held together in front of her as she looked up at the contest hall with her round jade eyes. She had been standing there without moving except for the rising and falling of her chest with every breath that the small pink and green Pokémon beside her was beginning to worry.

"Fo…" she worried as she poked the girl's leg.

Noticing her Pokémon's concern, the young girl looked down to find round pink eyes staring back at her. The girl bent her knees and lowered her head as she pushed a strand of ivory hair behind her ear and asked, "What is it, Camellia?"

With her leaves, the tiny grass-type touches her "wrist" as a gesture to time. The trainer's eyes widened, indicating that she remembered where she needed to be.

"Oh, that's right! Jazz is waiting for us at the café. We can't be dillydallying here!" Energy sprang into her as she lifted Camellia with one arm, held onto a luggage case with the other, and started running down Winter Avenue.

Several minutes of alternating between jogging and walking landed the girl right in front of Burn's Café. She took a short moment to catch her breath before walking inside where she found a dark-skinned young man sitting next to a window. His honey brown eyes were trained onto the screen of his PokéPad until she started to make her way towards him.

"Jazz!" she began, "I'm so sorry for being late!"

The Pokémon nodded her head in agreement. "Fo! Mantis!"

With a bright smile, Jazz stood up from his seat to hug his two friends. "Hey, it's cool Si. It's just good to see you again. And you too, Cami. Besides, we have the whole weekend to register at school, it ain't a big deal. We should go there first to drop off our stuff before doing something else, though."

"Agreed!"

Jazz reached into the back pocket of his jeans and asked, "You want something to drink before we head out?"

"Yeah, I'll get something but it's okay, you don't have to pay."

With a smile, he replied, "Good, because I only have enough cash for the cab."

She rolled her eyes and smiled as she handed Camellia over to Jazz so she could order her drink. After ordering, she sat down across from her friend and asked, "Soooo?"

He flashed his brilliant smile and mimicked her, "Soooo?"

"How was your summer?!"

"It was alright. Can't really complain. What about you?"

"I went camping up in Rose Hills with my cousins and it was so much fun! We went to the lake there and I rode a jet ski for the first time!"

"Really?! No way!"

"Yeah, I know!"

"You haven't been on a jet ski before?"

Her smile fell into an astonished smirk as she giggled, "Really? That's what you're focusing on?"

He shrugged, "You know me. Did you drive it yourself?"

"Arceus no! I was holding onto my cousin for dear life!"

"Grande Tapu Cocoa for Sienna!"

The girl with ivory hair stood up from her seat to get her drink and returned to her friend and Pokémon.

"Ready to go?"

"Mhm!" she mumbled while drinking from her straw.

As the two made their way to the exit with their luggage, a hooded man walked through the door and held it open for the two teenagers. They thanked him on their way out but he made no response and simply faced forward. It wasn't as though he owed them acknowledgement so they just continued on to look for a taxi to get to their school, Horus Academy.

 **A/N: I didn't want to write too much since I want to work more with the characters that you're all going to submit so you probably don't even have that much info on Sienna and Jazz from this small prologue but you'll learn more about them as we go along. If you're interested in submitting a character to me, the form and rules are on my profile so go check them out. Lastly, a long time ago, I used to leave a Question of the Chapter at the end of each chapter to (1) get activity in the reviews and (2) interact with my readers. I'll leave my answer to the QOTC in the author's notes of the next chapter. Thank you for stopping by to give this a read!**

 **QOTC: What copy of the game did you get and why? Sun or Moon?**


	2. Searching for a Scoop

**A/N: Hey everyone! I wanted to start off by giving a big thank you to everyone who partook in this SYOC and those who will in the future. There's still a couple characters I need to review but I wanted to get a chapter out first so here you go! As for the last QOTC, I saw an even amount for each game and I know that someone answered the question in their application but I can't find it so we'll call it a tie in the review section. I got Moon because a friend of mine got Sun and we've always had that yin/yang fire/ice kind of friendship. Anyways here's the first official chapter of Horus Academy. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 1: Search for a Scoop**

After leaving the café, the two teens took a cab that dropped them off before the iron gates of Horus Academy. As they exited the cab, Jazz gave the driver fare for their ride and bid him farewell. There were other cars, some of which were also taxis, dropping students off on the sidewalk. Parents hugged and kissed their children before driving off and all of the students began to flood through the gates like a white river.

While hauling their luggage, Jazz asked, "Hey, how come your mom didn't give you a ride?"

"She was going to take the day off from work but I told her that it was fine. I didn't mind taking the train to Belli City."

"Naw, I'm saying that you guys could've picked me up from the airport and given me a ride here."

She simply giggled, "You know Camellia's been practicing her Fury Cutter."

"Ohhh, a paper cut. I'm sooo, scared – ow!"

Camellia jumped up to swipe at Jazz's arm before running back to her trainer's side for protection. The tall boy recoiled from the stinging sensation and stopped walking to examine the cut. Camellia barely grazed his skin, giving him a laceration almost identical to a paper cut.

"Not so tough now, are you?"

"You're buying me Band-Aids. I didn't bring any with me."

Sienna just continued walking, pretending not to hear her friend complaining behind her. She could hear him call out, "And you better not cheap out! I need the water-resistant ones so I can ball up later!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll make sure they have a Hello Skitty design on them. Hey Jazz?"

"Yeah?" By this point, he had caught up to her and the two were walking side-by-side again.

"What dorm are you in this year?"

"Ricky and I requested to be roomed together so they put us in Hammond Hall. Where are you?"

"I'm in Alpine Hall! That's like right next door!"

"I want to know who at administration didn't take my restraining order on you into consideration."

Sienna's jaw dropped so low that Jazz almost could've heard a banging sound on the concrete. "You take that back you Exeggutor!"

"I can't here you from down there, Mini-or."

The ivory-haired maiden couldn't help but gasp before she yelled out in frustration, "Camellia! Razor Leaf!"

"H-hey! I was just kidding!" Jazz dove for the nearest bush to avoid the incoming barrage of sharpened leaves. While crouching down he cursed himself for forgetting to tell his mom to take out that life insurance policy.

"You two are as noisy as ever." The arguing duo both turned their attention in the direction of the familiar hearty voice.

"Felix!" Forgetting her anger at Jazz, Sienna ran towards the towering giant and jumped to give him a hug.

The shaggy young man let out a laugh as he felt her tiny arms wrap around his abdomen. He returned the gesture and even picked her up, earning a loud laugh from her, almost as if he was squeezing it out of her with his massive arms. As he set her down, Felix felt the need to whip his head to get his shoulder-length blonde hair out of his icy blue eyes.

"Hey, I'm really liking the purple highlights," the tiny girl complimented.

"Thanks but I did it on a dare."

"You should leave it! It looks nice."

"Stripes!" Felix turned his gaze to Jazz who approached him with an open hand. The two clasped hands and went in for a quick hug before separating and ending it with a fist bump. "Yo, what's with the purple in your hair? Kind of girly, ain't it?"

With another hearty laugh, Felix patted his friend on the back, causing him to stumble slightly.

Jazz let out a nervous laugh, "Jeez, I forgot how strong you are. Hey you already dropped your stuff on in your room?"

"Yeah, I'm up on the hill in Jackson. I was just on my way to Victory Rhode for some food."

Jazz replied, "Got it. Now I can give the dining hall a heads up to buy more food."

Felix put an arm around Jazz and laughed again, "This guy. I'll see you two later."

As the massive boy left, Jazz rubbed his shoulder and went to get his and Sienna's luggage so the two could continue to their dorms. Once they reached Sienna's, the two agreed to meet up with Felix in the dining hall and went their separate ways.

* * *

Once Jazz had gotten the key card for his room, he dropped of his luggage on one of the vacant beds and walked to Victory Rhode where he found Felix with a few plates stacked in front of him. As the dark-skinned youth sat down across from him with a plate of his own, Jazz took a look around the room at some of the new faces.

"Is it me or are the girls finer this year?"

"Like who?"

Jazz gestured with his head to a blonde with her legs crossed while she twirled her fork in her spaghetti. Her long, straight hair flowed down her back with some of it crawling over her shoulder. It took her a few minutes to notice that someone was looking at her but when she did, she flashed the two boys a smile before returning her attention to her friends.

A grin stretched across Jazz's face as he commented, "That Carolyn sure is a beauty."

Felix nodded in agreement, "You're right, she's gotten really beautiful since last year. She's in your class, isn't she?"

"Yeah, I had her for a couple of my classes last year but she's kind of quiet."

"She doesn't seem too shy, though." Felix raised his eyebrows and aimed his eyes at the aforementioned girl.

When Jazz returned his attention to her, he saw a pair of hazel eyes looking directly at him accompanied by a flirtatious smile which he took as an invitation to go talk to her. Felix watched as his friend went to keep Carolyn company, smiling as she turned her body away from her friends to engage in conversation with the dark-skinned youth.

Not long after that, Sienna and Camellia walked into the dining hall and quickly found Felix. As Sienna sat down with him, she noticed another, untouched plate across from the blonde.

"Did Jazz already come?"

Felix forced down the food in his mouth and nodded, "Yeah, he's over there talking to that girl."

Both trainer and Pokémon rolled their eyes at Jazz's predictable behavior. Sienna started rifling through her handbag until she pulled out a digital camera and once she did, she marched over to Jazz and Carolyn with the lens pointed directly at them. While the two unsuspecting students were lost in conversation, Sienna snapped a picture of them and the flash brought them away from each other.

"Um, what are you doing?" Carolyn asked. She clearly did not appreciate her privacy being intruded upon.

"Yeah, Si. What's up?"

Sienna navigated around the table to stand behind Jazz where she put a hand on his shoulder and nonchalantly responded, "I'm sorry, I'm just working on my first editorial for the year. I'm thinking 'The Early Pidgey Gets the Caterpie.' It's a piece on how Jasper Winters can't wait a day before picking up a girl."

"Okay, Si. I think we get the point." Jazz shot up from his seat and quickly got behind Sienna with both his hands on her shoulders so he can lead her away from Carolyn. As they began walking away, Jazz turned his head back to Carolyn and said, "I'll call you later, 'ight?"

She simply nodded and shot him that dangerous smile of hers.

When all three friends were seated together, Jazz complained, "What was that?! You can't just block your boy like that."

Sienna fought back a smirk as she got up to get lunch for herself.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I saw a story and I had to go for it."

"I thought you only liked 'Iron Whatever News.'"

"It's 'Iron _Core_ ' and what can I say? Every reporter has her weak stories."

Camellia snickered as she hopped out of her seat and ran behind her trainer. By the time she had caught up, Sienna was already selecting her food. The ivory-haired girl was very picky with her food so she only got salad and a very small amount of chicken with potatoes and carrots before returning to her friends.

Once she returned, she tuned in to Jazz and Felix talking about playing basketball later but that conversation ended quickly and led into Felix asking her what she thought her first real story of the year would be.

"What do you mean?" She asked as she poked a piece of chicken and popped it into her mouth.

"Yeah, like what are you going to be looking into first? I know you mostly just do editorials so I thought you'd have something you wanted to investigate in mind already."

"Actually, you're right but I'm actually torn between two stories so I need your guys' opinion because I want my first story to be a real scoop, you know?"

"So what are you juggling between?" Jazz asked.

"Well it's either this piece on whether teachers should be allowed to prohibit Pokémon in their classrooms or I could take testimonials from incoming Freshman about their feelings towards being here."

"Hmmm. That's a tough choice."

"He's right, they both suck. Ow! Si, you're not going to tell Cami anything?"

Sienna simply crossed her arms and let out a "hmph!"

"I think what Jazz was trying to say is that maybe you should do something more…dramatic as your first story for the year. There's absolutely nothing wrong with your choices but they don't really fill the bill of being 'real scoop' worthy."

With a sigh, Sienna accepted defeat. "You're right. Unless I run that story about a certain flirt."

"Hey!" Jazz whined. "Ricky hasn't even gotten here yet. It's not fair for you to pick on him like that."

"Well I'm not sure what to write ab–"

As Sienna lifted her fork to her mouth, another student ran by and bumped her elbow. She dropped her fork on the table and whipped her head at the young boy.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

At that moment, she realized that most of the students in the dining hall were heading outside by the hordes.

"Did something happen outside?" asked Felix.

Jazz stood up from his seat and said, "I guess so. Let's go see what's up."

* * *

Outside, the trio found themselves faced with the backs of many students. There were many PokéTabs out to record whatever the spectacle was so Sienna absolutely needed to see what was causing all of the excitement. Unable to see past the crowd, even on her tip-toes, she turned to Felix with her jade eyes glistening with yearning.

Understanding what she wanted, Felix got on one knee so she could climb onto his shoulders. Once he felt both of her legs latched to his shoulders, he slowly stood up so she wouldn't fall off.

Even with his height, Jazz could not see so he asked her, "What do you see?"

"It looks like a battle! But battles aren't allowed outside of designated fields and rooms. Come on, we've got to get closer!"

Felix lowered himself one more time so Sienna could get off and before he could stand up, she darted off into the crowd with Camellia close behind. Jazz and Felix followed, trying not to lose her in the sea of people but eventually, some larger boys would not allow them to pass and Sienna went out of sight. The ivory girl, on the other hand, was able to slip through the crowd and found herself at the very front where she saw two people and two Pokémon in the center of a circle.

One seemed too old to be a student, especially with the nicely trimmed goatee on his chin. The man was very tall and slightly chubby with messy, spiky black hair that reached his shoulders. There were a couple strands of blue hair on the front. His clothing did not give any indication to what sort of position he had because it consisted of a simple dark blue baseball tee with black sleeves, black jeans, and white sneakers.

The pixie-haired girl was definitely a student though she carried a stern and mature air about her. In her emerald eyes, Sienna could see a ferocious determination and a seriousness that could rival the legendary Red. Her white sleeves were rolled up to her elbows so she meant business though Sienna could not help but examine the rest of her outfit. Over the long-sleeved shirt, she wore a knee-length overall skirt and she completed the ensemble with black stockings and black flats.

The older man looked from side-to-side with his hazel, almond-shaped eyes which showed slight disinterest. He brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck and said, "Hey Anya, don't you think we've brought too much attention to ourselves? You know teachers aren't allowed to battle students."

"Enough! Jynx, use Mean Look!"

The ice/psychic-type's eyes began to glow an ominous violet color and the rings flew towards the furry pink flamingo standing in front of her opponent.

"I guess you don't want me leaving, then," he said calmly.

"Follow up with Heart Stamp!"

Jynx brought her violet hands to her thick lips and blew out a large pink heart.

"Aromatisse, Protect."

A dome of clear light formed around him and the floating heart dissipated on contact. The shield evaporated shortly after, leaving Aromatisse vulnerable again. Now that his guard was down, Anya ordered her Jynx to fire off multiple Heart Stamp attacks.

"Dodge them."

Aromatisse pranced around the area, kicking his legs with each jump as he easily dodged the incoming psychic-type attack. Anya's frustration showed through her gritted teeth, angered by how effortlessly Aromatisse evaded Jynx's attack.

She was not going to let herself be fooled so she ordered, "Jynx, use Draining Kiss!"

The ice/psychic-type rushed across the grass with her lips puckered. As she neared Aromatisse, Jay ordered him to use another Protect. Jynx slammed into the dome of light and was thrown back by defensive move.

"Are you just going to run and block the whole time, Jay?"

 _They know each other?_ Sienna though. _But why is she so mad at him?_

With a sigh, Jay responded, "I told you, I can't battle you. At least not here."

"Coward. Jynx, Heart Stamp!"

"Francis, Light Screen."

A small ladybug Pokémon flew into the battle and raised his four hands before him to set up a wall of pink light that the psychic-type attack simply evaporated into. Now that Anya and Jynx were finished with their assault, onlookers began scanning the area to see who the Ledian belonged to.

That's when some students in the crowd began to make way for a round woman in business clothing. Her face was devoid of make-up and she kept her golden dyed hair in a tight bun. Most students recognized her so the crowd expanded so they could get a bit of distance from her but no one left. Things had only gotten more interesting.

The woman looked at Jay with an emotionless expression and he did not change his from the disinterested look he had been wearing the entire time. She turned to the girl and began walking towards her.

"Young lady, did you know that it is against school policy to battle outside of designated areas?"

Anya simply shot back a stalwart look in rebellion, unwilling to lower her head even against this woman.

"I see. Come to my office." As she turned away from Anya, the woman called out to the crowd and said, "Excitement is quite unpredictable like a Seviper. You never know when it will strike. This excitement has come to an end so you may all go about your day. Oh! And for those of you who are new here, welcome to Horus Academy. For those who are returning, welcome back."

As the students began to leave, the blonde woman walked over to Jay, who had just recalled his Aromatisse, and told him, "I'd like you to come as well."

He simply nodded and followed behind her. Anya also followed though she kept many paces behind the two.

"Whoa, what was that all about?" Jazz asked as he and Felix met up with Sienna.

Felix shrugged, "There must be some sort of animosity going on between them."

Sienna chimed in, "The guy didn't really seem to care all that much about it but the girl…she was definitely angry about something. And I'm going to figure out the bottom of this."

 **Credits to:  
-W. R. Winters for Felix Stephenson  
-InariKurenai for Jay Green and Anya O'Neill**

 **A/N: And that's the end of the first chapter! I know the battle wasn't too long but I thought I should give you guys a little excitement for the first chapter. There's definitely more to come, though so stick around!**

 **QOTC: Which starter did you pick and why? (I can already see the Rowlets stacking up.)**


	3. Kippies

**A/N: Hey everyone! I wanted to start by saying I'm incredibly sorry for taking so long with this chapter. I've had a lot of things to do so as to make it up to you, this chapter is going to be fairly long. I also wanted to give a big thanks to the people who submitted after I posted the first official chapter! For those of you who want to submit a character but aren't sure if there's space, rest assured that I'll never set a limit though at some point I may just close the submissions if I feel that I can't handle any more. It's still open right now but I have two things to say on this matter: (1) As of now, I've accepted 26 OCs so I've seen a lot of recurring Pokemon, trainer classes, and even personality types so anyone interested in submitting a character from here on out, you need to be creative to avoid making one that's similar to one I already have. (2) As expected, I've been seeing a lot of students which is okay because it's a school setting but don't be afraid to submit characters that work in the city. I also need characters like these because Sienna is a journalist so getting newsworthy stories for the school paper is her main priority. Other than that, I've got no real qualm about getting characters from your guys. It actually motivates me! Also, for the people who are waiting for a response from me about your character, please give me a little more time. I'm getting around to them.**

 **As for Chapter 1's QOTC, Rowlet had 4, Litten 2, and Popplio 3 so Rowlet gets this one. I too am guilty of choosing Rowlet but I liked it from the beginning. Once I saw all of the final forms and their typings, though, I could've gone to Litten because Incineroar is badass or Popplio because of Primerina's amazing water/fairy-typing. Anyways, let's get into it!**

 **Chapter 2: Kippies**

The sounds of basketballs bouncing and sneakers scraping against the polished wooden floor danced in the players ears as they ran from one side of the court to the other. There were many courts inside the gymnasium but one was more active than the others and this particular one was the one being using by Jazz, Felix, and a handful of other male students.

Jazz managed to catch a rebound and dribbled it to the other half of the court where he bounced it over to Felix. With his large frame, the blonde drove the ball in, using his strong shoulders to push off any defending players that dared to challenge his might. Deeming it necessary, two of their opponents teamed up on him with one using his body to keep Felix from moving forward while the other tried to come around and swipe the ball. Seeing the second defender coming in from the right, Felix turns and quickly hooks his arm around to pass the ball to his other teammate. This other dark-skinned boy leapt into the air and brought the ball to his waist before lobbing it up over the rim and into the net.

Through his heavy breaths, Jazz called out, "Game!"

All of the players congratulated each other on a well-played game and the opposing team asked if Jazz and the others would like a rematch.

"What's the time?" asked Jazz.

"Four forty."

"Naw, man. We got to get going. We'll be here tomorrow around the same time, though. Hey Ricky, Felix, let's hit the showers."

The other dark-skinned boy had just finished making a shot when he turned to Jazz and said, "What? I ain't paying the school for no damaged pro-per-ty! Is that what you are asking me to do, my dude?"

"I'm asking you to get rid of that fowl stench."

"Ay yo, Stripes. You got a wet nap? Jazz needs to clean his upper lip."

"If it's the same breed as you all I got to do it ask for some commitment and it'll go away."

Felix could no longer fight the urge to laugh at their banter. The only thing that went back and forth more than a seesaw was a verbal bout between Jazz and Ricky. It's almost as if they had a wire connecting their brains so they could share thoughts.

"So where does Princess want to go?" Ricky asked on their way to the locker room.

"I don't know, she said something about a new place downtown that's supposed to be designed like a fish tank or something. It's 'trending' or whatever."

"Is it a sea food place?" Felix asked.

Jazz shrugged, "Probably. You're not allergic, are you?"

"No, I'm hoping it is, actually. I could go for some crab legs."

As Ricky opened his locker to pull out his sports bag, he added, "That'd sound bomb with some oyster sauce. Oh hey! So what happened before I got to school? I saw something about a battle all over my UPost feed."

Jazz nodded, "Yeah, there was a battle going on near the cafeteria today. Knowlton stepped in and stopped the fight but it seemed like it was more than just two people having a spontaneous battle."

"What do you mean?" Ricky asked.

"Sienna said that they seemed to know each other. There's probably some history between them. Probably family. She went to go dig up more information on them. That's what her first story is going to be about for the paper and you know how she gets when she wants a story."

* * *

Sienna sat in the back of a cab, isolated from the darkening world outside though she was not completely alone. Aside from the cab driver up front and the Fomantis on her lap, there was a girl with strawberry blonde hair sitting next to the young journalist. This girl was dressed with lots of pink from her waist-length coat to her pumps. She wore a white button down shirt underneath her coat and a lemon-colored knife-pleated skirt. There was a multitude of rose-colored bows on her outfit, mostly serving as the buttons for her coat, but one was proudly displayed in her cascading locks.

"Hey Elise?"

"Mm?"

"What did you say this place was called again?"

"Oh! Kippies. It's basically a place that's shaped like a fish take. The walls are made of glass and they have decorations like aquatic plants and stuff."

"Is it a sea food place?"

"No, they serve eastern food from like Kanto and Johto. I heard it was pretty good but it's my first time trying it."

"Hey girls," both girls looked at the cab driver in front. He didn't bother turning around to look at them so their eyes met with his in the mirror. "We're here."

As Sienna opened the door, Elise reached into her purse and pulled out a ten dollar bill. "Okay, here's for the fare. Keep the change."

"You two have a nice evening."

"Thank you!"

Stepping onto the concrete, the girls' heeled shoes made loud clicking noises as they walked towards the entrance. When they entered the lobby, they noticed that there was quite a number of people waiting to be seated so they simply gave the host a name and decided to window shop nearby.

While walking and looking at different clothing, Elise brought up the battle from earlier that she had seen on all of her social media sites.

"You didn't see it? There were a lot of students there."

Camellia nodded while being held by her trainer."Fo! Fo!"

"No, I was setting everything up in my room. I wouldn't feel comfortable until I was completely unpacked."

"Really? Why? I did a little bit of unpacking but the rest I can do later tonight or tomorrow."

"I'd feel kind of unaccomplished if that makes any sense. Oh! Look at that dress!"

The two girls stopped outside of a store that displayed a long, sleek rose-colored gown with a plunging neckline and a flowy chiffon lace skirt. The neckline was adorned with small but very shiny rose quartz gems. The mannequin modeling the lovely dress had one of its ivory hands up in the air by its head while the other was curled into a fist on its hip.

"Wow, this is a _really_ pretty dress," said Sienna. "It would look so nice with those earrings you have. The ones with the pink studs."

"I know! I'm thinking of getting it."

"Jazz hasn't told me anything so we should have enough time to check it out."

The girls walked inside where they were greeted by a soft honey fragrance. There were other shoppers, mostly women, browsing through the clothing and accessories inside and employees stood by to offer help.

"Hi, welcome to Vespi Queen!" said a young woman wearing a long-sleeved blouse and a skirt. The skirt barely reached her knees but her leather boots covered the rest of her legs up to her knees. As she folded some shirts, she asked, "Can I help you with anything today?"

Elise nodded, "Yeah, I actually wanted to know how much the dress in the window is."

"I believe that one is five-hundred."

Under her breath, Sienna muttered, "Yikes!"

"I mean it's not _too_ bad. Do you mind if I try it on?"

"Sure, let me get it from the back. What size are you?"

"Six."

"Okay, I'll be right back with that."

Elise gave her a polite smile and a quick thank you before turning back to her tiny friend.

"Hey Elise, I'm going to check out some of the other dresses, okay?"

"Okay, don't go too far. I wouldn't be the best babysitter if I didn't know where you were."

With the roll of her eyes and a fake laugh, Sienna responded, "Whatever. I'm only a year younger than you."

"You're still the baby of the group."

"Why do you keep reminding me?"

"Because I know how forgetful you can be."

" _Right_."

"Hey didn't you say you were going to look at dresses?"

Realizing that she had actually forgotten that, Sienna muttered a simple "Shut up" and went to sulk elsewhere as Camellia giggled and followed.

With a win under her belt, seeing the employee with the dress in hand only amplified Elise's good mood. She was pointed towards the fitting rooms so she quickly went over to try on the dress. To her satisfaction, the dress fit her perfectly but she wanted Sienna's opinion so she went outside to look for her friend. The two made eye contact from across the room so Elise called her over and did a couple of poses for her.

"So what do you think?"

"It looks great! The shoes you're wearing go great with it too."

"I know! I'm going to buy it."

"Okay. Jazz told me that they already got to the restaurant but we haven't been called yet."

"They can get the table and wait for us anyway so no hurry. It's just Jazz, Felix, and Ricky anyway."

Sienna laughed and said, "You are absolutely right. That's why I'm going to try on this dress."

"Ooh, that one looks nice. Is it off-the-shoulder?"

"Mhm!"

"Girl, you are going to turn heads at homecoming!"

With a devious smile, Sienna responded, "We're going to need ambulance on standby for all the broken necks."

* * *

By the time Sienna and Elise returned to the restaurant, Jazz and the others had already gotten seated and their beverages were already on the table. The boys had ordered sodas for themselves but as soon as Sienna saw a pale orange beverage sitting across from Jazz, she chirped, "Yay! You got me Rai Tea!"

"Wait, where's my drink?" Elise asked, noticing that there were only four drinks on the table.

"Did you tell us what you wanted?" Ricky asked.

"No."

"Then how are we supposed to know? I'm not psychic…" Everyone at the table gave him an incredulous look, forcing him to correct himself. "Hey, it doesn't work over the phone."

"What am I thinking right now?" Elise challenged. She smirked at the horrible insult she came up with in her head.

Ricky sat back in his seat and dramatically placed his hand on his chest.

"Elise! I will not do that to you in bed tonight! That is very inappropriate."

The red-head's smirk immediately dropped into an astonished gape and any possible comeback failed to register in her brain. She simply turned to look for a nearby waiter and called him over so she can order her drink. When he came around, Elise ordered a milk tea with boba and then turned back to Ricky with a scowl.

"Princess, don't you know that you'll get wrinkles?"

"Nothing new. I have a big wrinkle in my life called Ricky." As she said this, Elise smiled sweetly at him and perked her voice.

He smirked and retaliated, "I already know I'm big. You ain't got to tell me."

To break the constant back and forth, Sienna asked, "Hey, so did you guys order food yet?"

Felix shook his head, "We ordered fries for the table but we were waiting for you to order the rest of the food."

"Do you guys at least know what you want?" she asked while looking through the menu.

Jazz nodded, "Yeah, more or less. I'm going to get this." He pointed to a picture of popcorn chicken with rice.

"Ooh, that looks good. Mind if we split it?"

"Sure but let's get something else too. I don't think I'll get full. Want to get some egg rolls?"

"Yeah but I'm only going to eat one."

"That's fine. I know I won't be eating that many anyway 'cause Ricky's here."

"Don't worry, I'll leave you some...depending on how many you order."

"It looks like six come in the order," Felix pointed out.

"So he's eating four," concluded Elise. She kept her gaze on her own menu, indifference on her face and in her voice.

"I'm a growing boy. Got to eat a lot."

As Sienna put down her menu, she turned to the redhead next to her and asked, "What are you going to eat?"

"The wonton soup looks really good."

"Is there a Mudsdale in it?" Ricky asked.

Everyone looked at him again with confused expressions.

"What?! They weight _one ton_."

Finally understanding the joke, the others laughed; Felix shook his head from the joke's simplicity and Elise rolled her eyes at its cheesiness.

The waiter soon returned to take their orders and left again, leaving the five friends to talk amongst themselves. They all splintered into different conversations with the boys talking amongst themselves about professional sports and battling and the girls chiming in every once in a while though they mostly talked about their summers with one another.

Jazz overheard Elise mention that she took a special class over the summer to learn how to bake Pokepuffs. She was giving Sienna a quick and very simple explanation of how to bake them and Jazz knew that the white-haired girl was paying attention but wouldn't retain any of it. As she finished, Elise turned to the whole group and asked, "So what happened over summer? Anything new?"

Jazz nodded, "Yeah, I actually found some Black Sludge for Ignis."

"Ew, don't you find that in sewers?" Elise asked.

Ricky jabbed, "Yeah, he just went to his restroom and found it on the floor."

"Yeah, I needed to wash up after getting out of your mom's bed," Jazz jabbed back.

"Hey, hey. No mom-shaming!" Sienna interrupted. "That's low."

"Sorry ref, I'll keep it above the waist" Jazz said. "Unlike Ricky's mom." Sienna squinted at Jazz and brought two of her fingers back and forth from her eyes to Jazz's. "Sorry, had to get one last one in."

"So did I, when I visited your mom," Ricky said before covering his laughter.

Through chuckles, Felix warned Ricky, "Hey, she's going to blow her whistle if you keep it up."

Sienna simply crossed her arms and "hmpfed" at the accusation. "Worse than that. I'll bench you both for the season."

"She's finally learning sports lingo," Jazz said, proudly. "Well to answer your question, Elise, I got paid to battle some wild Grimer in town 'cause there were a lot of them in one part and one of them dropped some Black Sludge so Ignis just picked it up."

"What does that stuff do again?" Felix asked.

"It's an item that'll gradually heal a poison-type that's holding it."

"Can we stop talking about gross stuff?" Sienna asked. "The food's coming."

The waiter arrived with a tray full of plates that he carefully balanced over his shoulder. When he reached the table, he distributed the food across the surface until everyone had their orders. After making sure that they had everything that they asked for, the waiter left them again so they could start eating.

As she ate, Sienna would often look around the room just to take in her surroundings. She noticed that the restaurant was actually pretty busy and there was a line outside. It didn't make her eat any faster but it was just something she noticed. Another thing that caught her eye was a pair of sea green eyes, staring directly at her table. They belonged to a well-built young man with brown hair that seemed to reach past his ears though it was pushed back. From what Sienna could see, he wore a thin hoodie over a T-shirt and a pair of jeans.

As soon as this boy realized she was looking at him, his eyes darted back to his friends and he tuned back into whatever conversation they were having. Sienna was no stranger to this. She'd caught boys looking at her many times and sometimes the guys looked like real creeps but for the most part it was harmless and she actually felt flattered by it. Did she like the attention? Every once in a while, yes, especially when she needed the confidence booster but it wasn't something she lived for. This boy in particular, though, was pretty attractive. He had a nice golden tan and his eyes were a gorgeous color. Not to mention the fact that he seemed to keep his body in good shape as far as she could tell from how well his thin sweater hugged his chest. This instant definitely counted as a confidence booster since she caught a good looking boy checking her out. Seeing as how his gaze didn't return, she just went back to talking with her friends.

Several minutes passed and this time, Elise caught the boy staring in her direction, directly at her to be precise. Just like with Sienna, he looked away again but this time he raked his falling bangs back and appeared to be affected a little bit more by her noticing than Sienna. Unlike her small friend, Elise mentioned it.

She nudged Sienna and said, "Hey, don't make it obvious but do you see the cutie with the blue eyes?"

Even though Elise had been talking to Sienna and said not to make it obvious, Jazz and Ricky both turned around to look at the guy. Felix was the only one to respect her wishes initially but seeing as both of the others boys turned their heads, he didn't see any harm in doing it to since his curiosity got the better of him.

"Hey! I said not to make it obvious!" Her voice was just above a whisper but there was clear urgency in it.

As they turned back Jazz responded, "They look more green to me."

"Whatever! Well I caught him looking right at me."

Realizing that he probably was looking at Elise, considering that her figure was curvier than her own and the redhead had a womanlier face, Sienna decided not to interject. After all, she was indifferent to whether the guy was actually staring at her and she knew exactly what was going to come of this conversation.

"Well you _are_ hot," commented Ricky. "Do you want to tell us anything new or should Sienna break a story about this?"

"Yeah, but look at him. He's pretty hot. I'd like to make an order of him."

"So go talk to him," Jazz responded. "He looks like he's about our age."

Sienna smirked at how spot on she was. She was smart to keep quiet because she definitely wouldn't have gone to talk to him so Jazz and Ricky would have done something to embarrass her.

With a sweet smile, she nodded, "Gladly."

The redhead stood up and made her way over to her admirer's table, attracting his eyes to her as she approached him. Seeing that she was walking directly to him, the boy seemed to tense up a bit before looking away again. This did not discourage Elise. Instead, she got the feeling that he was a bit shy and that only made her more confident than she already was.

When Elise reached the table, the boy and his friends looked up at her, slightly confused. She smiled at them all, "Hi!" She focused her eyes back on her target and said, "Hey, I don't want to make this weird or anything but I sort of caught you looking at me."

The boy's lips curled slightly into a smile as he responded, "Yeah…sorry about that. I won't bother you again."

She laughed at his politeness, "Oh no, you weren't bothering me at all." With the flick of her hand, she tossed some of her hair over her shoulder. "It's actually really flattering, to be honest." The boy seemed surprised and she could imagine that he was expecting a different response. "Do you happen to go to Horus Academy by any chance?"

"Yeah," He nodded and gestured to everyone at his table, "We all do, actually."

Elise took a second to look over his friends. One was a girl, which would have bothered her if this girl was sitting next to her admirer. She seemed incredibly short, about the same height as Sienna, but unlike the white-haired girl, this brunette had absolute no curves whatsoever. Her very long, black hair had some brown streaks foiled into it and was kept in a high ponytail. The girl looked at Elise and gave her a genuine smile, which the redhead returned.

The other boy at the table was scrawny and of average height with thick messy gray-blue hair that reached the nape of his neck. He was dressed for chilly weather with his dark blue turtleneck sweater which he wore under a sleeveless brown padded jacket. He too gave her a polite smile though he found it a little hard to maintain eye contact with her.

"Really? So do I! What grade are you all in?"

"We're all juniors," answered the girl.

"You're kidding! So am I! How have I never seen you guys around campus?"

"Well it is pretty big and there are a lot of students," the brunet said.

"He's right," the girl said, "but I think I have seen you around campus during my patrols."

"Wait, are you a Ranger?"

"Yeah, it's required to have some sort of policing experience to find a job as a certified Pokémon Ranger so I'm doing it in high school. It's also an extracurricular activity so that's a bonus."

Elise was actually pretty impressed by the girl, "Yeah, you're absolutely right. What are your names, by the way?"

"I'm Laurel."

"Ken," the brunet said.

"Mark."

"It's nice to meet you all. I'm Elise." She reached out to shake everyone's hand, leaving Ken for last so she can linger for a bit. "So I'm going to let you guys get back to your food. I just wanted to come over here and say hi."

As she turned, she heard Ken say, "You're welcome to join us if you'd like."

With an apologetic look, she denied, "I would but I actually came with some friends." As she slowly moved closer to Ken with her hands held together in front of her and a winning smile across her face, she suggested, "I could give you my number and we could get something to eat sometime."

"Sure." He sounded neither excited nor unenthusiastic as he reached into his pocket for his PokéPad and handed it to her. From years of using her own device, Elise's fingers danced rapidly on the smooth screen. She returned it to him and said good bye again to the trio before returning to her own table.

Elise saw all of the guys with their heads over their shoulders and big grins on their faces. Sienna was also smiling as she asked, "So? I see you gave him your number."

"He seems really nice and so do his friends."

Ricky was looking over his shoulder again, "Yeah, that girl with him is _really_ nice."

"Why don't you go over there and talk to her?" Sienna challenged. This time, all eyes were on him.

" _Please_."

Ricky quickly stood up and went over to the same table, this time coming around the girl's side.

"Bonjour, señorita," he said with a confident grin.

With a grin of her own, she turned to her friends and said, "Ah, bilingual. Let's hope he's trilingual and can speak English." She turned back to Ricky to see what else he had to say.

"Trust me, I'm a master in the English language."

She turned back to her friends, "Trilingual it is. We're off to a good start."

As he sat down across from her, he took her hands in his own and said, "Baby, I've got a good start and a good finish." He shot a wink at her, making her smile grow.

"Really now? Does it take you to finish as long as takes for you to get a haircut, Bob Starly?"

"It takes as long as you want," he said with another wink. "In fact, how about you think of the number of minutes in your head and I'll try to guess what number it is."

"What number am I thinking then?"

Ricky looked into her dark brown eyes for a few seconds, just silently staring into them. She looked back into his lighter eyes, patiently waiting for his bogus response. Her friends watched on, interested as well.

Finally, he opened his eyes and said, "You…have these little brown swirls in your eyes. They're adorable."

The others started laughing and she dropped and shook her head. She had been prepared for all of his flirtatious attempts but that was definitely unexpected.

"Alright, for real this time. The number of you were thinking is the number of spoons in your hand."

Laurel didn't have a spoon in her hand but she didn't remember than when she checked both hands. Realizing that it matched the number in her head, she reached for the spoon in her bowl. With a triumphant smile and the tilt of her head, she responded, "I have a spoon in my hand."

"Touché, but describe what a spoon looks like to me." He placed both hands on hers, covering the top of the spoon.

"It's metal and has a round part at the end of it."

He raised one eyebrow. "Is it straight or bent?"

"Straight."

As he lifted his hands, Laurel and her friends' eyes were wide with shock when they saw the spoon bent in a perfect ninety-degree angle.

"H-how did-?! When did-?!"

"A magician never reveals his secrets," he said as he stood up from his chair. "I'll see you around, shawty."

As he returned to his seat, Jazz mocked him, "Ah! You struck out!"

Ricky shrugged, "Eh, what can I say? She put up a good challenge. You win some, you lose some."

 **Credits to:**

 **-The1AndOnlyYoursTruly for Richard "Ricky" Johnson  
-FourHeavenlyKings for Elise La Roux  
-Fallen Lightning for Ken Conrad  
-maycontestdrew for Laurel Mitchells  
-Theta Rex for Mark Fourqurean**

 **A/N: And that's it for this chapter! No battles today, or at least none with Pokémon or fists. There were definitely some back-and-forths between the characters that I hope you enjoyed. If you feel that this chapter dragged on with the dialogue, feel free to let me know. Also, I just wanted to say that in addition to the "Commonly Requested" section of my profile, I've made a section called "Acceptance Percentages" just so you guys can see how many OCs I've accepted compared to how many were submitted.**

 **QOTC: What was your most favorite Island Trial to complete?**


	4. The First Day of Class

**A/N: Good to see you all so soon again! Quick update with the OCs, I'm still reviewing the two that I need to. I'm sorry for not getting back to you yet but I will soon. I got the itch to write again so I decided to put out another chapter. This is another slower-pace one but it'll give more insight to some of the character's personalities and behaviors.**

 **Winner of the last QOTC was Accerola's Ghost Trial by a landslide. I think I only saw one comment against it. Yeah, Accerola is easily my favorite trial captain from S/M but her trial isn't my favorite. I enjoyed Mallow's the most because it was the only one that I struggled with. Like I said in the last chapter, Rowlett was my starter choice so I didn't have a huge advantage or disadvantage against the Totem Lurantis but at that time, I had my exp share off so all of my Pokemon were at a lower level than the Lurantis and it devastated my team twice. I had to swap out most of my team members and train them up just to beat her. Plus, it was fun looking for the ingredients and doing some cooking.**

 **Anyways, let's get on with it!**

 **Chapter 3: First Day of Class**

Dr. Knowlton was a woman of average height but her rounded body, large face, and stern expression made her seem like a giant. Those around her never had to ask her to repeat herself because of her booming voice that could reach the furthest seat from the stage in any of the auditoriums on campus. Currently, she was sitting with her legs crossed and her hands on her lap with perfect posture as she studied the students in the front row. None of them could focus on the assistant dean's speech because of Dr. Knowlton's iron gaze that slowly worked its way from student to student like a typewriter. With his concluding remarks, the assistant dean introduced his superior and stepped to the side for her.

The woman stepped up, not to the podium, but the very front of the rounded stage to get her as close as possible to her students. Those in the front buried their backs into their cushioned seats, hoping that they could slip all the way inside. With her hands held behind her back, she saluted the student body.

"Good evening, students. My name is Dr. Connie Knowlton. For those of you that are new to our campus, I am the dean here so I welcome you all to Horus Academy." She paused and took a moment just to look out at the students in silence. She knew the unnerving effect she had from it but she took neither enjoyment nor insult from it. "There are many institutions that teach young people like yourselves to properly understand and train Pokémon. Whether you use the great power that they offer for selfish or selfless reasons or if you choose to simply befriend them and spend your days passively, that decision is up to you do decide with the lessons that you will learn here.

"Unlike some of the other academies, our school does not accept applicants based on their family's financial situation or solely on your test scores. No. What we look at before anything else is the personal statement that you submitted to us because _that_ is how we distinguish the platinum from the gold and how we sift through the mounds of coal to find the diamonds. Character is what we look for among our applicants because we can accept any local or regional tournament champion we want but our aim is not to concur the professional circuits. Our goal is to pass our principles and our beliefs onto you, the students, so that you can find your path in this world and leave an everlasting impact. The greatest accomplishments in history were not a result of violence. No. That would be the greatest travesties; the Kalosian War that resulted in a mass murder of countless people and Pokémon, the Kantonian War that left many Kanto children without fathers, and let's not forget the Yuuca Tribe Genocide in our neighbor region to the south. If we do not learn from our mistakes, then we are doomed to repeat them. For the next four years, you will learn from each of your instructors not only about the subjects they specialize in but also about the world and as a whole. With that, I welcome you all to Horus Academy."

She nodded to her audience to convey that she had finished and began walking back to her seats beside the assistant dean and other administration faculty. The students began clapping as custom and when the applause died down the assistant dean returned to the podium.

"Thank you for those inspiring words, Dr. Knowlton. Now I just wanted to end this assembly with two announcements. Classes will begin tomorrow so make sure to report to your first class and as a reminder, you can find all of the classes you enrolled in for the semester in your class planner on the school website by entering your username and password. Secondly, the homecoming battles with Anubis Academy will occur on September 29, not this Friday but the following one and we will be having it here this year in San Lucas Battle Stadium. Like every year, we will notify the Sophomore, Junior, and Senior students that will participate in the battles by the end of this week but they will not be revealed to the rest of the student body until the battles begin. That is all for tonight so you may all go about the rest of your evenings but be in your rooms by curfew at ten o'clock."

* * *

The entire campus was cloaked in a black sheet of sky with only small bits of light peering out from the twinkling stars above and the low lamplights on the ground. Not a soul walked through the cemented paths that cut through the grassy patches and around the brick buildings. Slowly, the sky began to lighten into a very pale blue and the sun followed behind as it slowly crept over the eastern mountains in the distance.

Sienna lay in her bed curled up with her arms wrapped around the sleeping Fomantis at her side. As small rays of light peered into her dorm room through the blinds, slowly bringing color to everything inside from the cream-colored walls to the dark wooden personal desks and the sheets and pillows on both beds.

Feeling the darkness fade, Sienna started to come to as the numbing effects of sleep went away. She felt something on her face but did not register it until her jade eyes felt something furry resting against them. She could make out tiny yellow hairs but once she realized what was on her face, she jumped up and let loose a scream of pure horror. The yellow spider fell on the mattress and started to crawl away.

On the other side of the room, Sienna's roommate began stirring in her own bed. A messy head of bright red hair with small streaks of dark violet rose from under the sheets and the girl had to blink the drowsiness out of her copper eyes. She turned to her right and found the ivory-haired girl in her lavender sleeping gown standing atop her own bed with her back to the wall.

"Good morning," the redhead said casually as she threw her incredibly long legs over the edge of her bed and stood up. The bug/electric-type scurried across the blue carpet and up this girl's leg until it was on her shoulder. "Hey, there Zip!"

By this point, the Ekans on the floor uncoiled itself, curious to what was going on, but the Snorlax in the corner of the room kept snoring through the commotion.

Sienna squinted her eyes at the freakishly tall girl before sitting down in her bed beside Camellia, who was gently rubbing her leafy hands against her trainer to soothe her.

"Lillian, I really don't mind you leaving your Pokémon out of the Poké Balls – mostly because I keep Camellia out of hers – but your Joltik scared the absolute Distortion World out of me."

Lillian plucked Zip off of her shoulder and looked at her with her eyebrows furrowed.

"Were you scaring Sienna?"

The tiny spider looked down with all four of its eyes from guilt.

"Tell her you're sorry."

As Lillian turned the spider over in her hands, Zip let out some indiscernible squeaks and hisses which Sienna assumed were an apology.

With a smile she shook her head, "It's okay. Just don't do it again, okay?" Suddenly, fatigue washed over Sienna like a tidal wave and she remembered that it was incredibly early. She checked her PokéPad for the time and sighed, "Well I won't be able to fall asleep again for like another hour so I'll just start getting ready."

Lillian slipped back into bed and said, "I might fall back asleep so can you wake me up when you get back from showering?"

"Will do."

Sienna grabbed her clothes, bathrobe, a bag with her self-care products, and card key before walking to the door. As she stood at the entry way, she turned back and told Camellia, "I'll be gone for a bit so behave, okay?"

She nodded eagerly and responded before laying back down on the bed. With that, Sienna left her room and made sure the door was closed behind her. As she walked to the communal restroom, she saw some other students on her floor heading to restrooms too. There was not anyone she recognized so she kept to herself as she made her way.

After her hot shower, Sienna quickly dried herself, paying a lot of attention to her coiled white hair, and put on her clothes which consisted of a sleeveless flowy green blouse and a pair of jeans. As she exited the shower with her gown and robe in hand, she went to the mirror in the restroom and applied very slight amounts of make-up. Just a little blush here and there to brighten up her cheeks and some eye liner for her jade eyes to really pop. Once she finished, she went back to her room to get her book bag and slip into her heeled boots.

"Hey Lillian."

She nudged at the tall girl to wake her up.

"Mm?"

"I'm heading out now. I'll see you in class, okay?"

"'kay…" Lillian still seemed drowsy but Sienna was not going to force her up so just left with Camellia.

Jazz and Ricky walked into their first class of the day, Pokémon Habitats, and found seats close to the back – a row behind a group of three girls. As they sat down and set their backpacks on the desk in front of them, they both started analyzing the girls. All of them were different in physical appearance but similar in their style of dress. The smallest girl had long brown hair, matching eyes, and a deep tan, the tallest had very short scorching orange hair, blue eyes, and a pale complexion, and the girl in the middle was a sandy blonde with icy blue eyes and fair skin.

"So which 'Issa' do you want?" Jazz asked.

"None of them, I've got my eyes on _her_."

Up at the front was a petite young woman, no older than thirty, with a slim face and a narrow nose. Her metallic silver eyes were large, very girlish in shape. She walked across the front of the room with a stack of papers cradled in her arms and her freshly painted fingers wrapped around the edges to secure her notes. Her high heels clicked against the polished floor and she swayed both her hips and her braided navy hair with each step.

"Now _that's_ my type of girl," Ricky said with a smile.

"That ain't no girl. That's a woman. But I'll still take my chances with something a little more achievable." He leaned over the desk and said, "Hey Melissa, Julissa, Alissa."

All three of the girls turned around and smiled when they saw him. Despite his reputation, Jazz had a friendly face, one that made girls doubt the stories about him though others were actually charmed by his promiscuity. The 'Issa's' were in the former category.

"Hey!" they said in unison.

"I've always liked that little name thing you girls got going on."

"Really?" they all asked again.

"Yeah, I've actually wanted to join your group for a while now."

"But your name doesn't rhyme with ours," Alissa, the redhead, brought up.

"It does if you use my nickname." They looked at him with confusion. "They call me the 'Lady Kissa.'" Ricky rolled his eyes while the girls all giggled and with that, they became the ladder category of girls.

The blue-haired woman in the front cleared her throat into the microphone and began speaking, "Welcome to Pokémon Evolution: Theory of Linkage."

"Wait, what?!" Jazz whispered.

"Shit, we're in the wrong class!"

Both boys quickly packed up their notebooks and ran down the aisle earning a look of confusion from the instructor.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

Jazz stopped with his hand on the doorknob as he and Ricky turned around. The psychic spoke first, "We're actually in the wrong class." He took a few steps towards the woman and grinned, "I'll stay here if you want me to, though."

With a smirk she shook her head, "I think you boys should get to your class. You wouldn't want to make a bad impression on the first day."

"I guess that means I haven't made a bad one on you."

She never dropped her smirk as she responded with a sing-song voice, "Good bye, _boys_."

They both waved goodbye and ran to their actual class. Fortunately for them, it was in the same floor of the building they were in. Unfortunately for them, the building had an open courtyard in the center and the lecture hall was on the other side of it. It also did not help that all eyes were on them when they walked in from the front, including the teacher who did not look happy in the slightest. He was locked onto them like an Octillery with its Octozooka.

"Can I help you two?" he asked, his prim and proper voice cutting through his thick black moustache. Jazz and Ricky were pretty tall, both standing just under six feet, but this man was almost a head taller than them and his broad shoulders gave him a frame that could cast long and wide shadows over most people.

"I, erm, tell him Jazz," Ricky pushed his roommate forward to face the giant.

Jazz whipped his head around to glare daggers into the other boy before turning back and tilting his head up to look the instructor eye-to-eye.

"We're kind of…in this class," he said hesitantly.

"Kind of? You either are or you aren't so which is it, boy?"

"We are! Uh, sir!"

"Then get into your seats and stop wasting everyone's time."

Before he could finish his last word, the boys were already sitting down and not even next to each other. They didn't have the time to find two open seats from fear of what this man could do. Not paying any mind to them, he continued on with his opening remarks.

* * *

Around noon, most of the students were either in one of the dining halls or roaming around campus. One such student sat on the roof of her dormitory with her arm on her knee and her back against one of the pillars in the archway around her. Her foot dangled from the side of the building as she tossed the queen piece lightly in her hand.

She stared at the wide campus, making note of the mountain range Northeast. She thought to herself about the tallest mountain in the region, Mt. Sheol and the legends she'd learned about it.

 _I should go some day_. _I don't explore this region all that much_. _Then again_...

"Anya O'Neill, can I have a word about the battle on Saturday afternoon that took place by Victory Rhode?"

Her minty eyes widened as the startling voice caused her to catch the chess piece in an iron grip. Anya's short wavy hair bobbed slightly as she whipped her head around to look at the curly white mane next to her. She stared at the smiling reporter with voice recorder in hand for a moment before looking away from her.

"No."

Sienna's eager smile dropped into a pout before picking back up as she persisted, "What was the battle about?"

Anya turned her head only enough for the reporter to see her stern expression. She then turned away again.

"You and the man seemed to know each other. Is there hist–"

Anya stood up from her seat and walked towards the stairs. To her annoyance, Sienna had started speed walking behind her to catch up. Seeing as how she was not getting the hint, Anya whipped back around, stopping the slightly shorter girl in her tracks. Sienna looked surprised from the sudden action but she also looked a bit scared of what Anya would do next.

"Get lost. I'm not talking to you about the battle."

She reached the door and started on her way down. Halfway down the first flight, she heard the door open up and the same vexing voice ask, "Why did you seem so upset?"

"Because you're following me!" Anya called back up. She moved down the stairs more quickly but so did Sienna.

"No, I mean during the battle!"

Anya ignored her question as she sprinted down the steps, sometimes jumping three or four steps to the platforms below. When she finally reached the exit, she ran out the door, almost dropping a classmate with the door. Students that she passed by would look at her but she paid them no mind. When her breathing started to get heavier, she slowed down and looked around for the reporter.

 _She's gone. Good_.

Anya found herself in the Southern part of campus between the Student Community Center, administration building, ticket office, and campus Pokémon Center in a busy courtyard between these buildings. There was a walkway connected to the courtyard from each of the cardinal directions. She checked her PokéTab for the time and realized that she only had a few minutes before her next class so started on her way.

As she sat in her third row seat, she stared blankly ahead at the white board at the front of the room. Her instructor was sitting behind his desk, looking at something on his desktop but he seemed disconnected from the rest of the room. The feeling was mutual. She was brought back by the bouncing white curls that walked into the room.

 _You've got to be kidding me_.

Sienna looked up at the rows of seats and something lit up inside her when she saw Anya. Her eyes brightened and her lips stretched out into an excited grin. She rushed up the stairs and sat down beside Anya who kept her gaze forward.

"That seat's taken."

Sienna moved to Anya's other side.

"So is that one."

She moved one seat over.

"This whole row is taken."

"Okay, that's it. We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

Anya looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"What's the hard way?"

"If I beat you in a battle, you talk to me about the battle on Saturday."

"Not interested. I don't get anything out of it."

"You get me to leave you alone."

Anya looked her up and down.

"You look like you pay more attention to your hair and make-up than you do training. I only battle strong trainers."

"I wouldn't underestimate me if I were you."

"What was your winning record last year?"

"Thirteen out of eighteen official matches." Sienna stood up straight with a confident smile, having only lost five matches.

"No."

"What? That's a pretty decent record!"

"That's only about a seventy-percent."

"I've only had eighteen matches, though!"

"Battle more, win more."

"What's your record?"

"Thirty-five wins out of thirty-eight."

"What?! H-how do you have so many wins?!"

"Okay everyone, take your seats. We're going to start now."

Anya thanked the instructor in her head for getting that pesky reporter to be quiet. She did not hear another word from Sienna but the white-haired girl sat close to her so she could go right back to pursuing her as soon as the class ended and that is exactly what happened. As the students started packing their things, Anya bolted out of the room and Sienna chased after her. The girls wound up in Dixon Yard, a large segment of grass that was split up into fours with a cement walkway cutting through.

"Will you leave me alone?!" Anya called back.

"The only way that's happening is if you beat me in a battle. I need that scoop and I'm going to get it!"

"Fine! We'll meet in Castel Corridor at seven." Without another word, Anya walked away from her.

 **Credits to:**

 **-Outcast001 for Lillian Elenora Leaby**

 **A/N: Next time we'll pick up right where we left off with Sienna and Anya's battle! Who do you think will win?! (That's not the QOTC but feel free to answer it if you'd like). I do apologize for not having the battle in this chapter but I felt like this was a good length for now.**

 **As a reminder, This SYOC is** **still** **open so look on my profile for the rules, form, a list of things commonly requested, and a few acceptance statistics.**


	5. Pawns and Rats

**A/N: Hello again! No, I'm not dead and no, I haven't given up on this story (yet…lol). Life has gotten kinda busy again so I've been limited with how much time I get to write but since I'm sick right now, I decided to use the extra time to write fanfiction instead of being productive with grad school apps. This chapter is a little extra long anyways so that's a bit of a treat and I wanted to follow two plots so that's what usually happens.**

 **So I meant to write a real QOTC but forgot to so the question about the outcome of Sienna and Anya's battle will count as last chapter's question. And the answer is…let's read and find out!**

 **Chapter 4: Pawns and Rats**

Sienna was rapidly shaking her foot as she sat cross-legged in her Geometry class, the last one of the day. There was a flurry of emotions spiraling inside her as her professor scribbled formulas and solutions on the white board and explained them with an unenthusiastically monotone voice. What did she care about solving for the longest side of a triangle? It was not like the Quadratic Equation would help her in Pokémon Battling and Journalism. More than that, it would not help her for her upcoming battle which she could not shake the thought of from her head.

Sienna felt a thin, pale finger tap her on the shoulder. She blinked a few times before turning to the boy next to her who looked at her worriedly.

She cocked her head, "What is it, Gabriel?"

"Did you catch that last thing he said about the problem?" He glanced at the barren notebook in front of her. "You haven't been taking notes? What's wrong?"

She shook her head, "It's nothing. I've just got something on my mind."

"W-well okay then." Gabriel left it alone seeing as how Sienna did not seem to want to talk about it. That did not last long, though.

"I'm just thinking about this girl I'm going to battle right now after class."

"You're going to be in a battle already?"

"Yeah, do you remember the battle on campus on Saturday?"

"I wasn't here yet but yeah, I saw some people posting videos. Wait, are you battling one of those people?"

"Yes, the girl."

Gabriel glanced over at the professor to make sure that they had not been seen yet. He turned back and asked, "Why? Is everything okay?"

"There's a story there and I want to investigate it."

Of course. He should have known better. What other reason would Sienna have gotten herself involved with someone she does not know? Especially a troublemaker like Anya.

Gabriel remained quiet and the two looked at each other, studying to determine what the other was thinking. Finally, a light bulb lit up in Sienna's head and shortly after, Gabriel realized what she was going to say.

"No."

"Why not?!"

"I'm not condoning this."

"Come on, it's not that bad! I just need you take a couple pictures of the battle."

"Why me?"

"Because you're my cameraman."

"Sienna…" he whined.

"Please?"

Sienna's jade eyes glowed with hope and her pink lips curled into a gentle smile – enough for her glistening white teeth to show. Gabriel looked away from her and tried to focus on what the professor was saying but he could feel her gaze drilling into the side of his face. Ignoring her, he just started scribbling down whatever came out of the professor's mouth. He would continue to do this until Sienna looked away. She had to eventually.

* * *

Laurel had just finished fixing the top button of her dark red uniform shirt when her PokéTab started ringing on her dresser counter. She swiped to answer and quickly pressed speaker so she could continue getting ready for her shift.

"Hello?" she asked.

Laurel pulled her hair into a ponytail and held it together with a thin black scrunchie. She then let it fall down her back and dangle near her lower back.

"L-Laurel!"

Recognizing the timid yet urgent voice, the tiny ranger responded, "Hey, Hana. What's up?"

"Laurel, h-have you started your shift yet?"

She shook her head, despite Hana not being able to see her.

"No," she said. "I'm still getting ready in my room."

"You have to come quickly! T-there's this…this…problem over here in North campus!"

"Hana, just tell me what's going on."

"There's b-been a situation in one of the labs in Soto Hall! Some of the Rattata escaped!"

Laurel finished lacing her combat boots and stomped twice with each foot as per one of her daily rituals for good luck. Lastly, she put on her Ranger cap, pulling her ponytail through the hole as she did so. She gave herself a quick onceover in the mirror and left her room with her backpack slung over her shoulder. She whistled into the room as she held the door open and a small purple bat-like Pokémon with large ears – each almost the side of its round body – rose from its bed beside Laurel's and flew to her shoulder.

As she walked out of her dorm, she decided that she could sign in after seeing what Hana was talking about. It sounded as though she really was needed. Despite being in a hurry, Laurel recognized a familiar face on her way and decided to say hello.

Jazz and Ricky were walking back to their dorm when they noticed a very short girl running in their direction.

"Hey you see that girl running in this direction?" Jazz asked.

Before Ricky recognized her, he said, "So what? There's always girls running towards me."

"No, stupid. Don't you recognize her?"

Laurel had gotten closer so at this point Ricky could see her face clearly.

"What did I tell you? I left a good impression on her."

"Hey guys! Bye guys!"

"Yeah, great first impression."

Ignoring Jazz's comment, Ricky started to run after her and once he caught up, he started running backwards and said, "Whoa there, my little Jolteon. You overshot a little back there. Though seeing as how much of a gentleman I am, I thought I'd save you the trip back over there."

She chuckled, "Oh! Thanks! You know what? I actually did want to talk to you about something but you're going to have to come with me. Think you can keep up?"

Ricky let out a fake laugh, "Can I keep up? Shawty, do you see how long my legs are?" He turned back around to run forward alongside her.

By this point, they were already far from Jazz so he decided to just continue back to his dorm and hear about the failed attempt later.

"Okay, don't say I didn't warn you," she responded.

Laurel started to sprint so Ricky did as well but sure enough, she eventually outran him and left him huffing in her dust. She had lost him about half of the way to Soto Hall and as she did, she taunted him before leaving him completely. Noibat snickered to himself as he turned his neck to see Ricky with his hands on his knees.

When she arrived at the Rattata lab, Laurel quickly found a couple other Rangers already inside, speaking to some of the scientists inside. One of them sounded very flustered as he explained to them what was going on. Another was rather aggravated by the Pokémon escaping. He was pacing back and forth through the lab, checking and rechecking the cages. The third scientist was leaning back in one of the chairs with his hands behind his head. He seemed completely unphased by the situation.

"I-I-I I swear that it was a complete accident! Groger told me to move the cages over f-from the counter to the bins! From the counter to the bins!"

The hulking angry scientist whipped his head around and refuted, "I didn't tell you to drop them, you clumsy buffoon!"

"Y-you were rushing me though!"

"Yeah, and the paramedics will be rushing _you_ to the hospital!" He charged towards the scrawnier scientist but the Rangers held him back.

While they tried to suppress him, Laurel approached her colleagues and said, "I think I have the gist of what's going on. Have either of you two seen Ranger Silva?"

"Y-yeah," one of them said while struggling to keep the two scientists away from each other. "She went with a couple other rangers to find the missing Rattata. Can you help search for them?"

"I'm on it. How many of them escaped?"

"Eighteen," responded the third scientist without looking.

Laurel quickly turned around and ran out of the room, "Got it! Thanks!"

* * *

Behind Gabriel's frown, Sienna knew that he still liked her regardless of how upset he was at her right now. He would get over it. That was the least of Sienna's concerns, anyway. She needed to get this story at all cost so she had to give it her all in this battle.

The two of them were currently standing in the lobby of Castel Corridor, one of the more popular facilities used by students because of the several battle fields inside. The structure was very castle-like in appearance with dark green cone roofs on the towers though the inside was very modern, especially the lobby, which was very similar to a Pokémon Center.

There was a crowd of other students nearby, hoping to get front row seats to the upcoming battle. Word had spread rapidly about the battle, thanks to the popular Elise la Roux, who was currently filing her nails. She had already tried convincing Sienna to rethink her decision but that did not work so she simply let the younger girl do whatever she pleased. Elise saw no point in pursuing the effort.

Anya walked in through the front entrance with her own group of students trailing behind her and she did not look pleased with it. Then again, she never looked pleased.

Without wasting time or acknowledging anyone else in the room, Anya walked right past Sienna and said, "Let's go battle. I assume you already got a room."

"I signed up for one but it's not ready," Sienna called back.

Anya stomped on her last step before slowly turning around to scowl at Sienna. Without a word, she walked over to have a seat and crossed her arms, refusing to speak with anyone. She did not have to bear the entire room staring at her for much longer because shortly after, Sienna's name was called for a room.

Soon, the two girls led the entire crowd through the halls and into a large auditorium with rows of seats that wrapped around separated battle fields. There were about eight fields in total that were separated by walls, allowing for multiple battles to take place at once. All of the battle fields had the same basic style though there was a control box on one of the walks inside each field which could change the environment. Sienna and Anya decided to leave it the way it was.

The girls stood at opposite ends of their battle field. Anya looked mostly disinterested and clearly wanted to end this as quickly as possible while Sienna had a determined look on her face. Gabriel had set up his camera inside the walls with the best possible angle he could manage with the limited equipment at his disposal. Elise made sure to stand near Gabriel to get some of the spotlight while he recorded though he kept his face buried into the back of the camera and the lens pointed at Sienna and Anya.

"So how do you want to do this?" Anya asked.

"What do you mean?"

Sienna's white curls bobbed as she cocked her head to the side.

"The format. Is it a full battle? Sudden death? Doubles?"

"Mmmm…how many Pokémon do you have?"

"Two."

"Me too so let's just have a singles battle with both of our Pokemon."

"Whatever." Anya reached for one of her Pokéballs and readied it for the initial toss.

Sienna reached looked down at Camellia beside her and said, "Are you ready?"

"Fomantis!"

The pink grass-type danced her way onto the field and readied her sharp leafy hands for battle.

"Looks like that piece of cabbage is going to get chopped up. Pawniard, go! Let's see what you have, _girly_."

Trying not to let Anya's taunting get to her, Sienna called out, "Camellia, use Razor Leaf!"

The grass-type nodded and then began to concentrate her energy on her arms. The leafy appendages glowed a bright green as she flailed them wildly to release a barrage of sharp energy blades. The attack proved useless against the dark/steel-type who stood still as the leaves bounced off of him.

"Well this won't last long. Pawniard, use Metal Claw."

Pawniard's blades shined a sleek silver as he ran across the field and leapt into the air to come down on Camellia with his sharpened weapons.

"Roll out of the way!"

Camellia tucked and rolled on her side as Pawniard's hands connected with the dirt ground, barely missing his target. This did not set him and Anya back in the slightest as he continued his assault before Camellia could even stand up right. He dashed right by her, cutting her stomach as he did.

"Fo!" she yelled out in pain.

"Camellia!" Sienna shouted out of concern.

The Pawniard slid to a stop on the dirt, kicking up a small cloud until he spun to face Camellia with his bladed hands held up. Anya kept her arms crossed as she watched Camellia slowly rise to her feet. If not for the code of honor that required that trainers take turns with their moves, she would have continued her attack.

Taking the opportunity to recover, Sienna watched the way Pawniard stared down her Fomantis with killer intent. It was honestly unnerving to see a Pokémon so serious in a battle. Definitely a sharp contrast from watching her friend's Pokémon.

"Do you want to surrender?"

Sienna shook her head, "H-huh?!"

"If you aren't going to order your Pokémon, I'll consider it a forfeit."

"I was just thinking about what I wanted to do!"

Camellia looked back at Sienna, waiting to see her decision. Sienna reached into her bag for a Pokéball and called out, "Camellia, return!" The grass-type scurried over to her trainer's side while the white-haired girl gently tossed the red and white sphere into the air. With a bright flash, a black-furred lynx with blue paws and face appeared in front of her. "Let's go, Nicola!"

"Lux! Luxio!"

The electric-type got low and ready to pounce with his four-pronged tail swaying slowly behind him.

"An electric-type… _she's mindful of type resistances_. _Her Fomantis took a big hit so I'll be able to handle it more easily later on with this._ Pawniard, set up Stealth Rock."

The metallic Pokémon nodded before raising both its arms into the air, making four jagged stones to raise and float around him. As if tossing them with his hands, Pawniard sent the chunks of earth to Siena's side of the field where they sank into the ground. Nicola backed away from the stones as they sank, unsure of what would happen. He was surprised when nothing happened after the stones seemingly disappeared and Sienna's reaction mimicked his. Seeing as how Anya had already made a move, Sienna was quick to respond with one of her own.

"Nicola, use Charge!"

Electricity started to surge around Luxio as it built up energy for its next attack.

" _A boosting move…_ Pawniard, use Feint Attack!"

The room began to darken despite the lights not changing their brightness and the dark/steel-type began to fade into the darkness before appearing directly in front of Nicola and knocking him back with a back swing. The room's lighting returned to normal for all to see Nicola rolling to a stop in a crouching position.

"N-Nicola!" Sienna called out, half-wanting to run onto the field to check on him herself. "Are you okay?"

He stood up straight with his head high as he barked out, "Luxio!" Small bits of electricity flashed around him.

"Great! Hit him with Spark!"

The energy Nicola had built up began covering him in a veil of electricity as he charged towards Pawniard and rammed right into him. Anya's Pokémon was sent reeling back now though he managed to stop himself by planting one of his blades into the ground. When he stopped, a small current of yellow electricity ran through his body and he flinched in response to it.

Sienna noticed this as well, to which she exclaimed happily, "Yes! We got it! The move Spark has a thirty–"

"I know what it does." Anya seemed unbothered by the handicap her Pokémon had now. Instead, she ordered him to stand. "Counterattack with another Feint Attack."

Despite feeling the effects of paralysis, Pawniard managed to stand up straight and he began using said move. The room went dark once again and Pawniard rammed into Nicola, just as the lynx had done to him. Pawniard flinched because of the static and fell to a knee after his attack.

"Nicola, let's try to finish him off with one last Spark!"

"Lux!"

He ran towards Pawniard while passing a current of electricity through his entire body and tackling the bladed Pokémon.

"Pawniard, counter with Feint Attack!"

Breaking through the paralysis, Pawniard launched a final attack that darkened the room, making Nicola's electricity seem brighter by comparison as small currents of static shot off from his body. The two Pokémon slammed into each other and afterwards, the room returned to normal with both Pokémon laying unconscious on the ground.

"Nicola…" Sienna stretched her arm out with his Pokéball in her hand and used the red beam of light to pull him back inside.

Anya stared down Pawniard, upset with his performance. She too, returned her Pokémon to his Pokéball before reaching for her second one and bringing out her Jynx.

Sienna looked towards her little companion and said, "It's up to you, Camellia."

"Fo! Foma!"

She skipped onto the battlefield only for the stones that Pawniard had planted on Sienna's side to spring up and crush the grass-type. Afterwards, the stones fell back into the ground.

"No! Camellia! Are you okay?"

"Fomantis…"

Camellia was holding one of her arms, almost as if it had been sprained or broken.

"Oh no…"

"Jynx, use Heart Stamp."

By pressing her hands against her lips and blowing a kiss, Jynx shot a pink heart-shaped attack at Camellia.

"Camellia, dodge!"

The Fomantis tried to move out of the way, but the heart's edge clipped the grass-type on her leg making her trip and stumble into a roll. Camellia landed on her injured arm, causing her to hold it again once she stopped in a seated position.

"Fo…" she whined.

"Camellia…" Sienna reached out her hand but pulled it inwardly towards her chest, gripping her flowy emerald shirt tightly.

"Make your move."

Sienna stood still, torn between continuing the battle or forfeiting. She could not just give up when she was so close to obtaining the answers she needed. But how could she let Camellia suffer such injuries?

Camellia watched her trainer deal with her internal battle so she decided to make the decision easier for her by standing up straight. Seeing Camellia's unwavering will to continue fighting, Sienna knew what she had to do.

"Camellia…"

The grass-type turned to see her trainer standing with her head down. "Fo…?"

Sienna slowly began raising her hand. When it was above her head, she muttered, "I forfeit."

Elise, Gabriel, and the rest of the spectators shouted in unison, "Wha-?!"

Sienna walked onto the field and reached for Camellia only to have her hands swatted away by the tiny grass-type.

"Foma! Fomantis!" She chastised.

"You want to keep fighting?"

"Fo!"

"I can't let you. Nothing's worth letting you get hurt so badly…"

"Regardless…" All eyes turned to find Anya recalled her Jynx. "You stepped onto the field which is against the rules and disqualifies you so this match ended as soon as your foot touched the sand."

Before Sienna could say anything else, Anya had turned and walked out of the door. What could she say anyway? Anya was right. More importantly, Sienna had to get Camellia to a Pokémon Center.

* * *

Laurel's black boots clicked against the cement walkway as she walked through campus, keeping her eyes sharp for the missing Rattata or any other rangers, including Hana. She was fortunate enough to be where she was she saw another ranger with his Rockruff chasing after a Rattata because the tiny purple rat ran right towards her. With her quick reflexes, she threw herself when the Rattata tried to veer to her left, managing to catch it by the torso. The rat tried to squirm its way out of her grasp but she kept her fingers stiff, going so far as to endure its claws, and even its teeth a couple times.

"Great catch!" called the other ranger.

"Thanks," she said as she rose to her feet.

"We have a couple cages set up in the area where we can drop the Rattata off," he explained. "The closest one from here is in that direction. Just walk straight and you should find it."

"Will do. I forgot to ask the scientists but how do we know which rats belong to them?"

"They have these small yellow braces around their hind left ankles with numbers on them."

"Great! Thanks!" She started to run in the direction he pointed her in before turning back to ask, "Oh! Have you seen Officer Silva?"

"I'm actually really new to the campus rangers. Today's actually my first day so I don't know that many of the other officers."

"Oh, ok. I didn't recognize you but there are a lot of rangers I don't know so I didn't think much of it. My name is Laurel."

"Elliot."

"It's nice to meet you, Elliot. I'll see you around!" She turned back around and continued towards the cage, which she soon found next to another ranger.

He greeted her with a nod, "Ranger Mitchells."

She returned the gesture with a completely professional composure the entire time. "Ranger Newell."

"I see you've already found one of the missing Rattata." He opened the cage from the top so she could put him inside with the others.

"Yes. How many are left?"

"With this one, we have six here and last time I checked, the other two cages have two and five so that leaves five. We've already covered most of this area so I suggest heading into the Bally Forest. Your partner went in that direction. We haven't covered much of that area yet."

She nodded her head again. "Will do."

With that, she quickly turned around and began jogging North of their position. The further she went, the less buildings she passed and soon, she was surrounded by trees in every direction. The sun was still up in the sky but it was far past noon so fairly soon, long shadows would be cast all around her and then it would be completely dark.

"It'll take forever to cover all of this on my own even with your help, Noibat."

The purple bat on her shoulder cocked his head, "Noi?"

Laurel reached for a Pokéball on her holster and tossed it straight up into the air. "Come on out Rufflet!"

A small bird with puffy white feathers around its head appeared in the air and landed on a nearby branch. The feathers on its torso were dark blue in coloration and it had a single large feather standing straight up on the center of its forehead.

"Alright you two," she said to them both. "We need to find some Rattata that escaped and all of them have yellow bracelets on their ankles. There are five left and we need to find them through this forest so spread out and search. Rufflet moves northeast, Noibat northwest, and I'll go directly North. If you find them, do not hurt. Just snatch them up and take them down about one kilometer South of here to a cage by Syrup Hall. We'll regroup exactly one mile from this spot in half an hour."

"Rufflet!"

"Noibat!"

Once they confirmed that they understood the plan, Laurel sent both of them out and began to walk herself. Eventually, she reached the base of a hill, exactly one mile from her starting point, where she sat on a nearby stump to wait for her Pokémon. Rufflet arrived soon after her but Noibat had taken longer so she slipped two fingers into her mouth and blew a sharp whistle.

"Let?" the bird asked with his head cocked slightly.

"Noibat's got good hearing. I'm pretty sure he heard that."

A few minutes passed before the bat came into view and landed next to his teammate.

"Hey, what took you so long? Did you find a Rattata?"

He nodded, "Noibat!"

"That's great! Alright, guys just four more to find! We can do this!"

"Sienna Vosh, please come to the front counter. Sienna Vosh, please come to the front counter."

* * *

The white-haired girl stood from her seat with her two friends following closely behind as they walked from the waiting area to the front counter where they found a young woman with short pink haired styled into two hoops behind her head. Camellia sat on a metal tray with a Pokéball beside her and she cheered upon seeing her trainer approach.

"Hey, Camellia. How are you feeling?"

"Fomantis! Fomantis!" She said while lifting one arm. The other was wrapped in bandages.

The nurse explained, "Your Luxio's injuries were very minor so he should be okay to battle but this one is a different story. Your Fomantis had a bit of a sprained shoulder and some scrapes when you her brought her in. The medicine cleaned up the minor wounds but her shoulder is going to be a bit stiff and sore so no physical activity for at least a week. She has a splint that you can take on and off for her baths and here's some extra bandages. You can change them after every bath."

Sienna held Camellia in one arm and took Nicola's Pokéball with the other. After placing the device in her bag, she reached for the extra bandages and did the same.

"Thank you so much, Nurse Joy."

"You're very welcome. If anything else happens, feel free to come back anytime."

As Sienna and the others stepped outside, the white-haired girl looked down at Fomantis and said, "I'm so sorry for putting you through that, Cami."

"Foma! Foma!"

Sienna let out a sigh and drooped her head, "And I didn't even get a story out of it."

"At the very least you gave someone else something interesting to write about," Elise said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well think about it. Someone else could write about how a journalist found a story and got into a battle for going after it."

"Wait, why someone else?"

"Journalists can write stories about themselves?"

"No, not really…Wait! But I _can_ chronicle the story!"

"What does that mean?"

Gabriel explained, "It's when a journalist starts a story and keeps their readers updated as they gather new information. That way it doesn't come off that much as her making news to write about."

"That's a great idea! Thanks, you guys! I'll get started on it right away!" Just as Sienna was about to run off towards her dorm, an audible growl escaped from her stomach, notifying everyone that she was hungry. "After dinner."

* * *

The sky had lost its bright blue veil and the burning warm colors were fading into a dark indigo as the sun dipped into the ocean to the west. It was becoming increasingly difficult to see things in the forest because of the elongated shadows and the weakened lighting. Laurel decided that it would be difficult to continue searching this way so she released a powerful whistle through her fingers, calling her Noibat and Rufflet to her.

Rufflet was the first to arrive and when he did, Laurel explained to him, "It's starting to get dark and we only found one other Rattata. You won't be able to help much more without the daylight so you get to rest now, Rufflet."

"Rufflet!"

The red beam dragged him back into his Pokéball, leaving Laurel alone until she heard the sound of tiny wings beating followed by tree branches crunching. She turned to find Noibat flying right towards her with a young girl right behind.

This girl was about the same age and height as Laurel with immaculately straight, mint green hair that she kept in a ponytail through her uniform cap much like the brunette. Her eyes were a soft violet and her skin was pale, making her stand out from the darkening surroundings.

"Hana!" Laurel cheered.

"Laurel! You came!"

"Of course I did. My partner needed help afterall."

"Noi! Noi!"

Laurel smiled and rolled her eyes.

"My _other_ partner."

"I-I'm glad that both of you are here now, though. Really, I am. Now that it's dark, my Pokémon aren't much use in searching for the last three Rattata."

"Well we caught two so that just leaves one…as far as we know. Let's check in to see how many are left."

Laurel dialed another ranger's number to ask him how many Rattata had been acquired. He confirmed with the girls that only one remained and most of area North of campus had been searched, except for the area ahead of them.

"Since we're already here, we might as well keep searching for it."

Hana nodded as she reached for the flashlight attached to her belt. Laurel did the same and sent Noibat ahead to scout while they kept searching in the area around them.

"At the end of this trail is a cliff so if it's not there, it must have turned back and gone elsewhere," Hana said.

"You know, it's times like these when the chief really should take my suggestion to make cheese a mandatory inclusion in the standard ranger officer's equipment."

The green-haired girl giggled in response. Shortly after, Noibat came back squeaking urgently before returning the way he came.

"He must've found something!" Laurel exclaimed as she chased after him.

As the girls neared the end of the trail, the top of the hill came into sight with walls of earth rising on both sides. When they reached the end, the area became flat as it overlooked the North wilderness with a line of mountains preventing them from seeing anything else.

By this point, the sun had completely disappeared and it was pitch black except for the small bit of light that the moon provided. The girls aimed their flashlights at the ground nearby but Noibat urged them to look straight ahead where they found not a small purple rat, but a large brown one with ruffled fur and a long pink tail. It whipped around as soon as the light shined on it and pounced at the girls. Laurel dove out of the way and Hana simply dropped herself so the Pokémon could jump passed them. As the Raticate ran, Laurel had an idea.

"Hana! Chase after it! That might be the last Rattata we were looking for!"

As the girls followed the large rat, Hana asked, "Y-you think it evolved?"

"I don't know. That's why we need to follow it. If it has the yellow bracelet, then it's definitely one of the ones that escaped."

"You're right! Laurel you're a genius!"

"I have my moments," the brunet joked.

Unfortunately for the girls, the Raticate ran much faster than they thought it would, contrary to what its physical appearance would lead you to believe.

"Noibat, Razor Wind!"

"W-what are you doing?!"

Noibat's wings began to shine a silvery color before flapping them once to release a flurry of pocket vacuums that quickly closed the distance to the Raticate. Although the rat escaped unharmed, many of the trees were cut up and the blades of wind struck at the ground, tossing up leaves. This caught the Raticate's attention and earned Noibat and the girls a threatening growl.

With a bit of a chuckle, Laurel stood near Noibat and said, "Well we've got its attention now."

"Esme, go!"

Hana tossed out a Pokéball and created a flash of light from which a yellow and green quadrupedal Pokémon appeared. It's ears and tail were leaf-like in design and it had large orange eyes. Small green tuffs of fur flared out from its body in various locations.

Seeing another opponent, the Raticate became increasingly agitated and immediately attacked with a Bite attack. Its large fangs began glowing brightly as it lunged at Hana's Leafeon.

"Dodge it, Esme!"

The Leafeon moved out of the way, making the Raticate crash into the ground, covering its messy fur in dirt.

"Noibat, use Razor Wind!"

Laurel's tiny bat began charging its attack again so the Raticate lunged at him with another Bite attack.

"Esme, counter with Iron Tail!"

The green leaf-like tail began shining a silver color, turning as hard as iron. It even made a clanging noise as it collided with the Raticate's glowing teeth. The hard impact caused both Pokémon to fly in opposite directions though Esme managed to look more graceful with a backwards flip. As the Raticate attempted to recover from being knocked back, it was assaulted by a flurry of wind blades which further pushed him back.

Raticate managed to roll back into a low prowling stance, ready to pounce again. It charged another Bite attack though as it pounced, it transformed into a red light and was pulled into what seemed to be a Pokéball. They could not see it in the dark but assumed that that is what is was from the flashing red light on the ground. The click at the end of three shakes confirmed that it was a Pokéball.

"Well this sure is an interesting development."

A figured approached the resting device on the ground and stopped right behind it. The young man reached down to pick the Pokéball up with his pale hand to examine it for a few short moments.

"Um…excuse me," Laurel started. "Who are you?"

"Oh, that's right! I'm one of the scientists from the Rattata lab."

Hana flashed her light on him to which he held up his hands to cover his eyes.

"You could've given me some warning first," he chuckled.

Laurel did not get a good look at him before but this was the scientist that seemed disinterested in what was going on when she arrived in the lab. He had messy light blue hair and bright blue eyes though he did not have any other distinguishing qualities.

"What are you doing out here, though?"

"I heard that there was only one Rattata left and since my colleagues were getting a little too loud for my liking, I thought I'd come out her and see if I could find it myself. I appreciate the effort, though. You two definitely helped out and it's interesting to see that this one evolved."

"It doesn't ruin your experiment or anything now that it evolved?" Laurel asked.

"It changes things so we will have to get another Rattata but we can find something to do with this Raticate."

The young scientist put the device into his back pocket and started walking back to campus.

"Oh! Where are my manners?"

He turned back around and walked towards the girls. He placed his hands forward and smiled.

"My name is Yuto, by the way. Yuto Fubuki."

"Officer Laurel Mitchells."

"Officer H-Hana Silva."

"It's very nice to meet you both and thank you again for your help. Have a nice evening, ladies."

With that, he left the two girls alone with their Pokémon. As Hana returned Esme to her Pokéball and Noibat landed on Laurel's shoulder, the brunette said, "Well, I better clock in now."

"Y-you didn't clock in?! I'm sorry…"

Hana hung her head low with guilt but her partner's hand on her shoulder made her look up to meet eye-to-eye.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Some other rangers know I was helping out so the serge is going to yell…as much. Come on, let's stop by some coffee before we head back to HQ."

* * *

When Sienna, Elise, and Gabriel walked into the dining hall, they saw Jazz and Ricky already sitting down and eating dinner so they decided to join the them.

As they approached, Jazz waved and greeted them, "Hey, what's up Si, Elise, Gabe. It's been a while since I've seen you man."

He stood up to do a handshake with Gabriel who returned the gesture, albeit more timidly.

"Y-yeah, it's good to see you too, Jasper."

"I told you, man. Call me Jazz. So what's up with you guys?"

"What? Did your phones blow up or something?" Elise responded. "Sienna battled that weird Anya girl."

"You got into a battle, Sienna?" Ricky asked. "What's with that?"

Sienna rolled her eyes at the thought of having to explain everything but she did, offering the tall boys a good laugh at the part when she chased Anya all around school.

"How you holding up, Cami?" Jazz asked.

"Fo. Fo." She cheered.

"Yeah, I didn't think a clip on the shoulder would bring you down. Kind of like how Ricky doesn't let Laurel rejecting him get him down."

Ricky shot an eyebrow quirk at him.

"Like dat?"

"Yeah, like dat."

"You guys ran into the girl from Kippies?" Elise asked.

"More like she ran right by us and this guy tried to keep up with her."

"It's like she's part machine with a motor in her. How the hell did she outrun me?"

"Because you have no stamina."

"I have stamina!"

"You've got as much stamina a Slakoth."

Elise twirled her fork in her noodle soup as she commented, "Still, it's barely the first day and you already ran into her? Why hasn't Ken called me?!"

"Maybe he's doing that dumb three-day rule," Jazz suggested.

"What three-day rule?" Sienna asked.

"The rule that you can't call a girl until three days after she gave you her number."

"Wait, so do you call on the third day or do three days have to pass?"

"Pass," responded Jazz quickly before taking a bite of his pizza.

"Yeah, maybe that's it," Sienna said to reassure her friend. "Maybe he's just waiting for three days to pass."

"Yeah but who cares if he calls anyway?" Elise said. "I don't."

Jazz and Ricky both rolled their eyes at her obvious attempt at indifference. The rest of their dinner was rather uneventful as they all just talked about their days, including classroom mistake in the morning. Gabriel was rather quiet through their entire time, preferring to keep to himself and only speak when spoken to and was quick to excuse himself once he had finished his food. Likewise, Sienna left shortly after finishing her dinner as well to go work on her article to present it to the school's editor the following day.

 **Credits to:**

 **-Crystalized Flowers for Hana Silva**

 **A/N: So for those of you that thought Anya would win, congrats! You get to say you were right! A lot of you already know that I don't go for the "if you try hard enough and believe in yourself, you can do anything" approach in my writing. It's more of a realistic approach. Anya has a better record so it's more than likely that she'll win. Maybe it wasn't a win in the sense that she knocked out all of Sienna's Pokémon but a win nonetheless.**

 **Now, I would like to open the** **still ongoing** **SYOC to Anubis Academy students and faculty. The form is essentially the same but now you can choose which school your character is from if he/she is a student. You'll read this on the form but all Anubis Academy students submitted will be considered to participate in the homecoming battle though only 3 (1 for each upperclassman grade) will be selected. The rest that are accepted will be considered as friends for the participants.**

 **QOTC: What's your favorite Z-move and why?**


End file.
